Poll shows decline in relationships between students, teachers and parents

WASHINGTON – There’s no doubt things are different in today’s schools, and a recent Harris poll on the relationships between teachers, students and their parents shows just that.

The results of the poll, published by USA TODAY, reveal these relationships have dropped significantly since today’s adults were in school.

The poll found that only 31 percent of American adults believe today’s students respect their teachers. This number is down from about 80 percent when their parents were in school.

Those polled also think the relationship between parents and teachers has diminished, as well. The Harris poll shows that respect of parents for teachers has dropped from about 90 percent to about 50 percent.

These findings are no surprise to Public Advocacy for Kids President Arnold Fege, who has noticed a decline in the quality of tests, teacher evaluations and school choices over the years.

Fege also tells the USA TODAY he believes that people, as a whole, are losing faith in the government’s ability to solve big problems, citing FEMA and the NSA.

This is the first poll of its kind but Harris says it plans to conduct the survey annually.